Commentary: Individuals can change the gun culture in US

For better or bloody worse, the law of the United States is what the Supreme Court says it is. That is where the public policy discussion necessarily begins in the teary aftermath of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. That reality will frustrate the many Americans hoping the tragedy will mark an instant change in our gun culture; it does not preclude us from changing course.

In a pair of decisions that cheered gun aficionados, the high court ruled in 2008 and 2010 that individuals have a right to own and keep guns in the home. What that means, until either the Constitution or the court changes, is that no matter how many innocent first-graders are slaughtered, or how many brave educators die in their defense, the U.S. won't soon loose its title as the world's most-armed nation. And we can expect our mourning to continue; the venues and circumstances will change, but the next national nightmare is, inexorably, around the corner.

Indeed, if our perverse past is any guide, Americans will increase their gun purchases after the deaths in Newtown, just as gun purchases spiked after both of President Obama's Election Day victories; some bought the fiction that the Democratic president would, or could, pry the weaponry from Americans' hands.

Americans own 270 million guns, about 90 for every 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies. Better than half of the 8 million new guns manufactured each year are bought in the U.S. No other nation comes close to matching that arsenal - or the carnage that comes with it.

Nonetheless, there was evidence - over the airwaves, in social media, the spontaneous vigils that have sprung up since Sandy Hook - that Americans have had enough, that they just might be prepared to do more than light candles or, as a Facebook campaign requests, send teddy bears to Connecticut. Short of ordering the disarming of America - at this point, not even a united Supreme Court could affect that - there is plenty that New Yorkers and the rest of the nation can do to change the gun culture, and plenty that state and federal policy-makers can do as well.

? Don't make trouble. Think twice and again before bringing a gun into the home. Doing so increases the risk of homicide by a factor of three; the risk of suicide increases by a factor of three to five, and the risk of suicide by firearm by 17. A gun in the home is 22 times more likely to be used in a completed or attempted suicide, criminal assault or homicide, or unintentional shooting death or injury, than in a self-defense shooting. If you do own firearms, make sure they are properly locked and stored.

? Support micro-stamping. For years, the gun lobby, aided by their many friends in state legislatures and Congress, have beaten back common sense legislation that would use micro-stamping technology to print a unique code onto shell chasings - to help police solve shootings and murders. Tell your lawmaker to pass the measure - or to get out of the way.

? Improve permitting standards. Require five-year renewable licenses for all handguns and long guns and require applicants to undergo a background check, complete live fire safety training, and restate important information about their eligibility.

? Fix the federal background check. Close the "gun show" and other loopholes that allow some 40 percent of weapon sales in the U.S. to be conducted by private sellers who never conduct a federal background check.

? Hold politicians accountable. New York has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, no thanks to the National Rifle Association. It has taken aim at New York, doling out more campaign donations here than in any state in the nation, according to a Daily News report in April. What does this largesse buy? Resistance to smarter gun laws.

? Fight stigma attached to mental health. Too many Americans still attach stigma to mental illness and treatment, an apparent factor in so many suicide-murders, and the overwhelming number of suicides by gun. Learn more about mental illness; support public mental health services; get behind anti-bullying initiatives in school; and support people with mental illness.

? Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Restricting civilian sales of militarized weapons and limiting the availability of high capacity magazines - all one needs to quickly kill many battlefield enemies, or schoolchildren - does not infringe upon Second Amendment rights.

? Acknowledge gender violence. Stop ignoring the gender issues embedded in the gun debate. In disproportionate numbers, women continue to pay a high price for our permissive gun laws. Nationwide in 2010, some 1,800 females were murdered by males in single victim-single offender incidents, with firearms the most common weapon used by males to murder females.

Worry as we must about the gun threat in school and on the street, home has its own peril. Grieving Americans don't have to wait for their politicians or Supreme Court justices to fix that either.

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Commentary: Individuals can change the gun culture in US

For better or bloody worse, the law of the United States is what the Supreme Court says it is. That is where the public policy discussion necessarily begins in the teary aftermath of the massacre at

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